Preparing Graduate Students for Future Faculty Roles and Responsibilities:

A Survey of University of Nebraska-Lincoln Departments

Prepared by Tamara Golish

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

July 1998

As part of the Preparing Future Faculty project (PFF), the Office of Graduate Studies circulated a questionnaire to all Ph.D.-granting departments at the University of Nebraska Lincoln to determine the types of activities now in place to prepare doctoral students for future academic careers. Twenty-one departments responded. Four of the twenty-one departments indicated that they did not have any activities, descriptions, or examples of how they prepare their students for future faculty roles. The remaining seventeen departments provided descriptions and examples of (1) coursework, (2) mentoring, (3) experiences with other institutions, or (4) other categories of graduate student training. Below is a thematic analysis of the information contained in these four categories of the questionnaire. The analysis includes, but does not concentrate on departments currently involved in the PFF program (Communication Studies, English, Mathematics and Statistics, and Sociology). Rather, attention is focused on what non-PFF departments are doing to socialize future faculty.

1. COURSEWORK

The coursework that is offered by departments concentrates primarily on areas of graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training, rather than on advanced teaching tools, career or research enhancement, and other topics related to future faculty development. Identified below are examples of the various forms of coursework offered to prepare graduate students for faculty roles.

• GTA Training
. A few departments require only cursory GTA training. This training consists of workshops and/or brief teacher training before GTAs enter the classroom. Topics covered in the training sessions include grading policies, GTA responsibilities, how to deliver an effective lecture, and an overview of the course being taught. Another avenue of new GTA training is the two-day, August workshop sponsored by the Teaching and Learning Center.

The majority of the departments responding to the questionnaire offer some type of teacher training before the term begins and during the student’s first year of teaching. Most of the departments that fall into this category have a course set up for new GTAs to attend their first semester or year of teaching. These courses are not always mandatory or offered for credit. They do offer more intense training experiences through systems of peer review, journal reflections, or observations of teaching. Other departments regularly sponsor brownbag seminars or workshops where GTAs and faculty members may discuss their teaching.

• Socialization of Graduate Students.
Even though a substantial portion of the responses to the section on "coursework" consisted of issues related to (first year) GTA training, many departments also identified activities related to the socialization of GTAs to the professoriate. Most of these activities take place in the form of one or two-day workshops that go beyond basic introductions to teaching. For instance, a couple departments noted that the construction of teaching portfolios was a topic at one of their training workshops. The Department of Management holds workshops on peer review systems, using midterm evaluations to improve teaching, course web-page development, and academic professionalism. Another department takes up issues of educational reform in a teacher workshop. Another department offers GTAs a professional communication training workshop to "try to get graduate students and postdocs ready for the real world." Finally, in the College of Human Resources & Family Sciences, the Graduate Student Advisory Board sponsors monthly brown bag seminars for GTAs and faculty on topics such as career paths, resume writing, and interviewing.

Two departments also have teaching internships to "help prepare them (GTAs) for the day they will be professors." The teaching internships may involve observations or team teaching a course with a professor and keeping a journal about the experience. In the Physics Department GTAs may spend a semester as an intern in a multimedia development company where they are trained as teachers in the use of hypermedia for classroom instruction. These GTAs may also spend a semester as a research associate in the physics education group at the University of Amsterdam.

There are no full "courses" per se on advanced teaching, research, and career development issues, only workshops and brownbag lunches. There is, however, one exception to this rule. The Department of Chemistry currently offers a course, and is in the process of developing a second course, on preparing graduate students to be researchers. These courses are designed to train graduate students in grant writing. As this department noted on the questionnaire, "Developing the ability to fund research through competitive proposals, while an important skill for all of our graduates, is particularly vital for students planning academic careers."

Finally, it was evident that some departments do considerably more in the way of graduate student professional preparation than others. Some departments, such as Management and Chemistry, have integrated workshops, seminars, guest speakers, and forum groups into their graduate student training regimen. These activities are run by both faculty and graduate students.

1. MENTORING

Thirteen departments responded to the section of the questionnaire on mentoring. Only twelve departments engage in mentoring; as one reported, the "current administration refused to even consider assigning a teaching mentor." In most responding departments, mentoring is conducted informally through interpersonal discussions with faculty members. Several departments do, however, specify mentoring roles and responsibilities or offer "apprenticeships" for graduate students.

• Mentoring of Teaching Role.
Seven of the thirteen departments noted that they had some type of teacher mentoring for GTAs. In many instances, GTAs begin their teaching careers as apprentices. These GTAs are responsible for teaching recitations and helping with grading. They are guided by a faculty member who is the primary lecturer in the course. Eventually these GTAs teach an autonomous section of a course. Some department chairs also included GTA training under this heading (see above section on GTA training).

Another commonly reoccurring theme was the presence of brown bag lunches, sessions, committees, or internships on teaching issues (e.g., teaching portfolios, feminist teaching, effective teaching tips). For instance, the College of Business Administration holds a teaching forum to discuss teaching effectiveness. The Department of English has a teaching internship program with a Supervisory Committee that helps GTAs with their teaching experiences. The Chair of the Supervisory Committee assists GTAs in developing a teaching portfolio for prospective employers.

Other avenues of GTA mentoring include weekly, monthly, or quarterly meetings on teaching objectives with an advisor. For instance, Ph.D. students in the Marketing Department are assigned a "first year advisor" and an "undergraduate program coordinator" to help them with their courses and teaching assignments.

Finally, many of the department chairs also considered nominating outstanding GTAs for teaching awards under this mentoring category. A couple of departments also noted the PFF socialization experiences that enhance their teaching.

Most of the themes identified above center around preparing GTAs for their current teaching responsibilities within their departments. However, the English Department noted that there is a Placement Chair who circulates advertisements for teaching jobs, "helps graduate students explore the job market ... arranges mock interviews ... and advises them in strategies for developing resumes and dossiers."

• Mentoring of Research Role.
Eight of the departments identified some type of research mentoring. One of the predominate themes that emerged in this category was a weekly or monthly seminar on faculty and graduate student research. In these seminars, faculty and graduate students present their original research and share ideas for improvement. Chemistry also has a peer review system in which faculty and graduate students read and provide feedback about each other's research.

Graduate students are also encouraged to present their research at regional and national conferences. For instance, each year the Marketing Department hosts the Nebraska Doctoral Symposium, "bringing Ph.D. students from all over the Midwest to present their research in the presence of faculty from the Big Twelve and other schools." Some departments also allocate funding to graduate students for the purpose of presenting papers at conferences.

Finally, another common theme was the role of the advisor in formal or informal mentoring in research. In most instances, graduate students work informally with faculty members on outside research projects. Sometimes they even become co-authors on research pieces. However, one department (Marketing) mentioned that they specifically assign each of their Ph.D. students as a research assistant to a faculty member (even if the graduate student is also a teaching assistant).

• Mentoring of Service Role.
Three departments discussed mentoring graduate students in university service. In these cases, graduate students served on committees, took part in departmental meetings, and attended social gatherings with faculty. For example, some Mathematics graduate students are encouraged to be "directly involved in textbook selection or the preparation of curriculum materials." In Marketing, Ph.D. students form a student association and elect their officers who communicate their concerns to faculty members and work in the outside community. Last year, a group of marketing Ph.D. students drove to Omaha to help with the Habitat for Humanity project.

1. EXPERIENCES WITH OTHER INSTITUTIONS

Of all the categories on the questionnaire, this was the most limited in terms of amount and quality of experiences and examples. Six department chairs responded with information pertinent to this category.

• Teaching Experiences.
The most common theme that emerged from the data was graduate students teaching at other institutions during the summer. In addition to the departments involved in the formal PFF mentoring program (e.g., English, Math, Communication Studies, and Sociology), three other departments (Marketing, Chemistry, Physics) encourage graduate students to teach at local and international colleges and universities during the summer and/or school year. For instance, one Ph.D. student in Chemistry taught a lab at Doane College for a professor who required heart surgery. Moreover, the Chemistry Department has had many graduate students teach at Southeast Community College. As the chair notes, "The Chemistry department believes that experience is the best teacher and encourages some of our best graduate students to take advantage of part-time teaching opportunities at local and regional colleges ... These experiences build a resume and provide an important teaching references for future jobs." Finally, the Physics Department has teaching internship opportunities at the United States Air Force Academy and the University of Amsterdam.

• Research Experience.
Agronomy, Physics/Astronomy, and the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences specifically encourage their graduate students to share and/or conduct research with other local and/or international institutions. For instance, in Physics and Astronomy graduate students are encouraged not only to gain research experience at other local institutions, but also at institutions in Europe. The Agronomy Department has several graduate students conducting research at locations like Germany, Rthamstad, and the University of Montana. Finally, graduate students and faculty in the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences have participated in exchanges with graduate students from Tennessee State and the University of Arkansas. No other units identified research experiences with other institutions.

1. OTHER CATEGORIES

Most of the themes under the category of "other" were mentioned under the major headings above. Nevertheless, these additional categories are identified separately below.

• Funding for Conferences.

• Brownbag Lunch Series
(over teaching and/or research).

• Cycle GTA Teaching Responsibilities
(so that GTAs can experience a variety of teaching roles).

• GTA Training

• Orientation Programs
(e.g., socializing graduate students into the culture of the department during the first year of graduate school).

• Graduate Student Teaching, Research, and/or Service Awards for Excellence.

• Ph.D. Student Organizations.

• Encouraging Submissions for Publication.

1. CONCLUSION

Based on this analysis, GTA training appears to be the primary means of doctoral student professional preparation. Most departments are providing GTAs with instruction in basic teaching techniques for their current positions. However, several departments go beyond the basics and offer advanced instruction in pedagogy (e.g., teaching portfolios; teaching Websites; peer coaching; teaching at other institutions). Some departments also encourage discussion about graduate student teaching and research through weekly and monthly seminars. In addition, some departments assign a faculty member as a graduate-student mentor in teaching and/or research. However, most mentoring involves either formal assignment of graduate students as a teaching or research assistant or informal talks with faculty members. A few departments encourage graduate students to teach or conduct research at other local and/or international institutions.

Finally, it should be noted that in addition to the departments in the PFF program, only a handful of units do very much in the way of systematic professional preparation of graduate students for academic careers. Management, Marketing, and Chemistry provide the most guidance in teaching, research, and service. These departments and the PFF-participating departments provide the majority of the socialization experiences.

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